This invention relates to a portable time metering device particularly useful as an in-car parking meter. More particularly, the invention relates to an in-car parking meter which is conveniently displayed from a rearview mirror. The parking meter monitors the amount of time an automobile of a user is parked in a particular parking zone and ultimately deducts a corresponding amount of funds based on stored information from a bank register contained in the in-car parking meter.
While the invention is particularly directed to the art of metering devices and more particularly directed to the art of in-car parking meters, and will thus be described with specific reference thereto, it will be appreciated that the invention may have usefulness in other fields and applications.
The demand for in-car parking meters is increasing in view of the fact that in-car parking meter systems can be used in lieu of traditional parking meters. Municipalities and other institutions, such as universities, may utilize in-car parking meter systems to more efficiently and economically administer their respective parking programs. Use of an in-car parking meter system obviates the need for conventional parking meters and collection personnel.
A general example of a known manner in which to administer an in-car parking meter system may be to provide users with an in-car parking meter and allow the users to prepurchase increments of time from an administering authority, such as a governmental agency or convenience store. For example, a user may place one hundred U.S. dollars of parking time on a parking meter by paying one hundred dollars in cash to the administering authority. Use of the in-car parking meter device results in deduction from the prepurchased amount of parking time in accordance with the amount of time parked in particular parking zones. The parking zones and rates are predetermined and specified by the administering authority.
More particularly, as shown in FIG. 10, parking time is prepurchased by a user from an administering authority (step A). When the user wishes to use the device to meter parking time, he selects the proper zone for the desired parking area (step B) and activates the device (step C) to initiate a timing period. This timing period can be a predetermined period or an open ended amount. For example, different areas of a city, or different locations on a college campus will be prioritized and assigned different parking rates (e.g., 50 cents per hour for one area/region and 75 cents per hour for a different area/region). After selecting the zone, the user then positions the device in a location in the automobile so that the device can be conveniently viewed by a parking attendant to verify that the automobile is legally parked (step D). Upon return to the automobile, the user deactivates the device (step E).
Although present in-car parking meter devices are an advance over traditional pole-type meters, a number of convenient features are lacking. One such desirable feature is the ability to conveniently deduct money from a number of separate storage banks. Such ability would make it possible to prepay funds for parking to a number of different administering authorities in different municipalities yet maintain accounting and auditing efficiency. Other features lacking include communication capability with other devices for loading data, auditing and verification, a sufficiently large number of available parking zones each having a rate/value, convenient computation to predetermine if a car can be parked in a certain zone based on the amount of funds stored in a corresponding bank, and improved flexibility.
For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 4,717,815 to Tomer discloses a time metering device particularly useful as a parking card. Such time metering device includes a time storage device for storing total prepurchased time, a time measuring device, a time selector key means for manually selecting a predetermined time interval, and a predetermined interval storage device for storing data representing the predetermined time interval selected.
The parking meter device of the Tomer patent, however, does not contain a plurality of banks storing prepaid funds. Moreover, the Tomer patent only stores total prepurchased time, not funds at all. Nor does such device include any means for predetermining whether a car can be parked in a particular zone based on the amount of funds stored in the corresponding bank of that zone. It is merely a simple countdown device. Further, the device of the Tomer patent does not provide communication capability. These attributes and others are desired for the reasons noted above.